No, not my reflexes. The dearth of answers I've received to date for a fleet of poetry submittals I sent in spring. Buoyed by ever-expansive spring thoughts of cracking new markets and bouncing off my flock of poems generated by the poem-a-day writing exercise of April (National Poetry Month), I sent out sheafs of paper. That was more or less four months ago.

Even my April and May email subs have yet to garner responses! Is there something about my work that just makes editors thoughtful? Or makes them fold up the pages and sail paper planes out the window?

Or is it the state of spring submissions -- the glut that heavies editorial desks from coast to coast, clogs in-boxes and generally slows down the gears?

I even have some things sent in February outstanding. I'm guessing it's not just me, but the state of poetry publishing.

And yet I find it a hopeful sign that so many people are writing poems. Who wouldn't want to live in a world where every other person you meet has a notebook or two full of poems?

In other news, I've just discovered a poet new to me whose work I find stunning: Paul Hostovsky. Check out this sampling of poems from our very own Umbrella, in the spring 2007 issue. I've ordered a book. Watch this poet -- big things ahead, in my opinion.